This is Google's new quantum computer
from Moritz Degenkolb 
This week reports of the world's largest quantum computer made the rounds. It comes from Google and has 72 qubits, which doesn't sound like a lot at first. In this article you will learn why it is still a milestone in research and how a quantum computer works.
What is a quantum computer?
It seems like a huge race in which companies keep outdoing each other with the number of qubits in their chips. For example, a chip with 50 functioning qubits came from IBM and now Google comes with 72 qubits. But what are qubits and what can they do better than the normal bits in our computers?
The classic computer differentiates between 0 and 1. These digits are then combined and form the smallest unit of information - 1 bit. Here comes the small but important difference: A qubit can have the states 1 and 0, just like a normal bit. But the quantum bit is also able to be 1 and 0 at the same time. This position is called superposition. This can be explained with the spin of the particles and the laws of the quantum world.
Qubits can assume a superposition and thus display 0 and 1 at the same time.
As the laws of quantum mechanics come into effect, we have other advantages as well. This is how qubits can connect. With these, one particle is always 1 and the other 0 when the value is determined. It doesn't matter how far apart the particles are from each other. Looking at this, the first falls Proproblem: A superposition only exists as long as we do not consider the particle. If we try to determine the value, the particle will choose a number. How exactly the probabilities of this can be influenced is still unclear.
Advantages and disadvantages of the new technology
The advantages of this are enormous, because abstract calculations can be carried out in the shortest possible time. ProThe problem, however, is that the popular encryption with prime numbers will be completely useless. Previously, you could use it to store passwords and data proeasily encrypt, but a quantum computer can decode this encryption in fractions of a second. This is because he has multiple variants at the same moment procan beer.
With this new security gap, there is also a new encryption method. Quantum encryption is a lot more secure and therefore offers a high level of protection for the data. Because even with a normal supercomputer it is not possible to solve this encryption or only within a period of centuries. This would enable quantum computers to directly close the security gap they bring with them.
At the moment, a quantum computer is not worthwhile, it works with only 72 qubits, which makes it no more powerful than a normal supercomputer. The development is now progressing faster and faster and one will reach the point where quantum computers will replace the current high-performance computers. Google's new chip is the first to exceed the previous limit of 50 qubits. With this, Alphabet (parent company of Google) shows that you shouldn't point out alleged barriers too quickly if they are quite easy to break.
The quantum computer for the home now seems to be the dream for one or the other virtual reality fan. But it remains unlikely that established PC manufacturers will also be able to see the quantum computer at home. It is about the further development of computers for facilities that require enormous performance. That's why companies like NASA are increasingly interested in a quantum computer.
Finally, it should be noted that the futuristic PC from the quantum world will bring us a lot of progress, but also some dangers. Technological progress is always something interesting, but one should never lose sight of the possibilities such devices can offer the military or similar institutions. The only thing left to hope for home users is that they will also notice something and feel the benefits. But it is not to be expected that early, since we are only in the first development phases.
“But it remains unlikely that established PC manufacturers will also be able to see the quantum computer at home.” I consider this statement to be nonsense. Just like Bill Gates in 1981: "You will never need more than 640 kilobytes of memory."
It is more likely that this one Proprocessors will find their way into our mobile devices in the future.
That's true, of course, in a few years we will be laughed at anyway how we “survived” with computers and media like this today 😉
Heyho, your objection is of course correct. My statement in the article referred to the near future and I think it is rather unlikely. However, there is already speculation regarding cloud service with quantum computers.
The technology and physics behind such a chip are still too shaky and inexperienced to be used in consumer electronics. We don't know what it will look like in 30 years, but maybe we can look forward to something. ^^